PRES'T PIERCE'S ADDRESS, 

i O THE OFFICERS AND STUDENTS OF THE 

CLEVELAND MED. COLLEGE 



FEBRUARY 20. l-?4.5; 



■^< 



A PLEA 



FOE 



STABILITY AND PERMANENCE 



IN 



INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING; 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



TRUSTEES, OFFICERS AND STUDENTS 



OF THE 



CLEVELAND MEDICAL COLLEGE, 



FEBRUARY 26, 1845, 



BY REV. GEORGE E. PIERCE, D- D., 



PRESIDENT OF WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUESTe 



5 CLEVELAND: 
YOUNGLOVE'S STEAM POWER PRESS. 
1845. 



^S'.. 






A PLEA FOR STABILITY AND PERMANENCE 



INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING 



Many of the higher and professional schools of antiquity were of 
brief continuance, enduring no longer than the lives of the distinguish- 
ed teachers whose talents and learning gave them celebrity. During 
the most flourishing period of Greek, and Roman literature, schools of 
a higher grade were exceedingly numerous, in which were taught 
Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Ethics, Law and Medicine, or, in general, 
the national language, the constitution of the state and the nature of 
man, with whatever of practical i^ill could render knowledge availa- 
ble in the business of life. These schools had for their accommoda- 
tion a private dwelling, a grove, a garden, a portico, a temple, a the- 
atre or some halls of the city, where the people AS'ere accustomed to 
hold their public assemblies. Hence, while they were efficient in ac- 
tjomplishing the ends of education, in preparing the leading men of 
the state for great achierements, and in aiding to give the world a lit- 
erature and philosophy which have been admired in all ages, the 
schools themselves have, to a great extent, gone into oblivion, and 
modern curiosity remains ungratified in regard to their structure and 
discipline. If an exception is to be made in favor of some schools of 
permanent notoriety, it is because they were presided over by some 
philosopher of great celebrity, or were devoted to the maintenance of 
the system of doctrines of some distinguished philosophical sect, or 
were the objects of state or royal patronage, from whence they were 
provided with superior charms and accommodations, and rendered at- 
tractive as places of literary resort. The most distinguished schools 



of antiquity were the Academy, the Lyceum and the Portico at Athens^ 
the Athenseum at Rome, and the Museum at Alexandria. The Aca- 
demy was the institution where Plato taught, and where the doctrines 
of the Academic sect were long maintained. It was situated in a pub- 
lic garden or grove in the suburbs of Athens, laid in beautiful walks, 
planted with olive and palm trees, and watered by a delightt^ul stream; 
with scenery, rendered more grave and ornamental by the proximity 
of a highly adorned cemetery, in which were the statues, and temples, 
and sepulchres of the illustrious dead. The Lyceum Was upon the 
banks of the Ilissus, which watered the opposite skirl of the city, in 
an enclosure dedicated to Apollo and decorated with fountains and 
groves and buildings, known as the favorite walk of Aristotle and his 
disciples, and frequented by learned men, given to retirement and 
study. The Portico was the resort of Zeno and his disciples of the 
stoic sect. These schools continued to be the resort of the Greek and 
Roman youth and men of learning for many centuries, and were in- 
fluential in stamping an impress upon the affairs of men for many 
generations. In the later ages of Rome, the emperor Adrian built 
the Athenseum, a large amphitheatre, after the plan of the Grecian 
institutions, and it continued to be the most distinguished school at 
Rome till the time of the christian emperors. But the most celebrated 
school of antiquity, and that which most resembled a modern univer- 
sity, was the Museum at Alexandria. Alexander, in laying the foun- 
dations of the city, called by his name, determined to make it distin- 
guished as the seat of empire, the centre of commerce, and the resort 
of learned men. Most of the city was built in a single year. And 
during the reign of the Ptolnmies, by whom he v/as succeeded, it gained 
all the grandeur and magnificence, which his fond vision had antici- 
pated. In the most beautiful part of the city, and near the great har- 
bor, and in connection with the royal palaces and gardens, stood the 
Museum, a large and splendid edifice, where many scholars lived and 
ate together, supported by the royal bounty, pursued their studies, and 
instructed the hundreds of youth and men in pursuit of knowledge, 
who resorted thither from all parts of the civilized world. The libra- 
ry collected here, with great industry and at great expense, was the 
largest in the world ; containing, at one time, about 700,000 volumes. 
The observatory was furnished with the best instruments of the age. 
This institution continued to enjoy uninterrupted prosperity, to con- 



centrate and diffuse the lights of science for more than five hundred 
yeais ; when, in the reign of Aurelian, it was destroyed by civil com- 
motion. Alexandria, however, continued to be the seat of learning 
for a much longer period. 

The Colleges, Universities and Professional schools of Modern Eu- 
rope, have had a greater measure of stability and permanence, than 
the schools of antiquity. The feudal system, a privileged nobility, 
hereditary sovereignty, and a state religion, are causes which resist 
•change, and foster those institutions by which they are upheld. The 
prevalence of Popery, also, with its orders of priesthood, its splendid 
and pompous ritual, its monastic establishments and its rich endow- 
ments, bestowed with the avowed purpose of extending its prwer and 
perpetuating an unchanged character, has had a powerful influence in 
giving permanence to such institutions of learning as it has originated 
and sustained. Of more than one hundred universities in Europe, 
about one half have existed from three to six centuries. The most 
ancient of these are those of Bologna, Paris, Cambridge and Oxford, 
which were founded not far from the close of the twelfth century. 

Compared with ♦hose of other countries, it is a matter of course, 
that the institutions of learning in the United Slates, should be yet in 
their infancy. But though our land has not been long under the do- 
minion of civilized society, and though our state and national govern- 
ments are of but recent organization, our people have not been un- 
mindful of the necessity of institutions for the higher degrees of 
classic and scientific attainment, and for the study of the learned pro- 
fessions. But hitherto the work has consisted chiefly in laying foun- 
dations, and providing for existing exigencies, while the expectation 
is that our institutions will pour their richest blessings on coming gen- 
erations. In these circumstances, a heavy responsibility rests on those 
who lay their foundations, and originate the character and influence 
which they rray be expected to possess in all future time. It is well 
known that the institutions of a people assume form and character 
from the characteristics of the people themselves. From the nature 
of our government, from our freedom in the exercise of political and 
religious opinions, from the newness of our country and the rapid de- 
velopment of its resources, it results that our people are thoughtful 
and intelligent, and ardent and active and enterprising, and, to a great 
extent, dissatisfied with any present attainment and eagerly pushing 



forward to the realization of some anticipated good. These character- 
istics shovv their results in regard to our literary institutions. Col- 
leges, and universities, and professional seminaries, are originated and 
spread through our country beyond the natural demand, or the power 
of sustaining them. The work of laying foundations is entered upon 
with zeal and activity, but without counting the cost, and, after years 
of toil and expenditure, discouragement ensues, and the work is suf> 
fered to languish, or perhaps is abandoned. It has come to this, that 
some men will not co-operate, except it be in some splendid scheme,^ 
which is to result in the building of a city, the endowment of a col- 
lege, the renovation of society and the realization of an earthly para- 
dise ; and the more Utopian the project, the more ready they are to 
part with their wealth to push it onward. But the day has gone, when 
an Alexandria can start into existence in the course of a few years ;. 
and it needs the wisdom, the wealth and the power of an Alexander 
for its accomplishment. 

Our remarks have brought us to this position : staUIitynnd a regard 
to permanence should be made first requistes in originating and con- 
ducting our institutions of learning. Whatever maybe said in re- 
gard to the institutions of Europe, their adherence to the forms and 
usages of a darker period, and their unwillingness to assume a posi- 
tion appropriate to an age of discovery and advancement, the danger 
in our country, is in the opposite direction. We are in danger of 
wasting our energies in transient efforts, and embarking our resour- 
ces in reckless adventure, to result only in exhaustion and disappoint- 
ment. Our ability is limited. We have not at our control the accu- 
mulated wealth of ages. We have not the resources of kings and con- 
querors. With most of our people their possessions are not the result 
of inheritance, but of their own care and industry. But they have 
a great work to perform, if they would provide the needful institutions 
of learning for our growing country, and they have nothing to waste 
on fruitless experiment. They need to build upon a sure basis and of 
tried material, and to cause every pillar and every wall, as it ascends, 
to bear the marks of steadfastness and durability. The lives of men 
are brief, and the influences which they, as individuals, are able to 
exert are transient ; but the state endures, the church of God endures? 
truth endures, and the great fundamental principles of science and 
philosophy are enduring, and the institutions by which they are sus-- 



tained should be enduring. Weak and selfish men may be satisfied with 
institutions which will benefit themselves and their families, and which 
are adapted only to advance their own honor and influence during 
their life-time. But the wise and benevolent, the honored men, who 
take enlarged views and form liberal plans, and on whom our institu 
tions of learning are chiefly to depend for encouragement and sup- 
port, will not be satisfied to embark in enterprises of this kind with a 
view to mere transient results. They will desire to act for their coun- 
try, • and to provide institutions that will sustain its government and 
laws and prosperity while the nation shall endure. They will wish to 
be instrumental in enlightening the human mind, and relieving the 
wants and alleviating the sorrows of man, in coming generations. 
The worthy men who are devoting themselves to the infant institutions 
of our western country, and toiling to lay the foundations of collegiate 
and professional schools, are not sustained in their labors and sacrifices 
and self-denials by a regard merely to immediate and apparent results. 
They are prompted by higher and stronger motives. They look for- 
ward to the period when these institutions shall have acquired the 
strength and stability of mature age, and shall pour unnumbered bless- 
ings upon the millions of people by which our country shall then be 
inhabited. They regard the institutions of the older states. They 
look at our honored Yale, striking deep its roots and throwing up its 
branches with abundance of green leaves and rich fruits, after a 
growth of more than a hundred years. They admire its steadily in- 
creasing stability and energy for great and good results during the 
long administration of its present venerated head, and that of the no 
less venerable man by whom he was preceded. And they indulge the 
fond anticipation that the day will come — not that their eyes will be- 
hold it, but that it will arise to greet posterity — when the institutions 
which they now cherish, will be alike influential, in sending out their 
healing waters, their heavenly radiance, among mankind. These are 
the things that inspire hope, and prompt to patient endurance. 

It is manifest then that among the causes which may be expected, 
to give stability and permanence to an institution of learning, it must, 
first of all, have an important and permanent end to accomplish. Why 
is an institution originated ? Does it seek the advancement of some 
great and permanent interest, that will need an institution to promote 
it, through all the changes of coming years '? Or has it for an object 



8 

some local or transient design, which may be accomplished and then 
go into oblivion, or which will fail to awaken interest when the cir- 
cumstances that gave it birth shall have passed away ? Whichever 
6nd may be aimed at, the institution may be expected to have a dura- 
bility according to the design for which it was originated. A college 
or a university or a professional school, may be started for the sole 
purpose of benefiting a town, a village, or a city ; or it may be sent 
off into some remote wilderness to enhance the value of property; or 
it may have for its end to sustain the interests and advance the senti- 
ments of some political party ; or it may have a sectarian character 
and devote itself to the propagation of some new forms of theological 
doctrines ; or it may devote itself to the establishment of some new 
theory in medicine, or some vagary in morals or in the elements of 
social life ; and as the interests and opinions which gave it birth shall 
die away, or prove themselves vain and fanciful, the institution also 
will be left to languish and die. The appropriate objects of an insti- 
tution of learning are great and permanent, and are essentially the 
same in every age and nation. You may have for your object in lay 
ing the foundations and providing the endowments of a seat of learn- 
ing, the establishment of truth and righteousness, the discovery and 
promulgation of the great and immutable principles of science, the 
subduing and invigorating of the human intellect, the imparting to the 
mind the richest treasures of knowledge, and superadding that dexter- 
ty and reffnement and ait which give to ^knowledge its power; you 
may have it for your object to provide an adequate number of learned 
men to fill the professions of Medicine, Law and Theology — the Phy- 
sician, to apply the principles of the healing art to the frail tenement 
of life, to stand by the bed of distress, and arrest the progress of dis- 
ease, and alleviate pain and ward off the hand of death — the Lawyer, 
to guard your property, enact your laws, and maintain the welfare of 
your country — the Theologian, to enlighten your ignorance, make 
plain the path of duty, soothe your sorrows, lead you gently to the 
gates of death, and aid your triumphant entrance into life and immor- 
tality. Let these be your objects, and let them be kept steadily in 
view, and you may rear an institution durable as the interests with 
which it is blended, and permanent as the nation whose welfare it up - 
holds, and whose glory it adorns. 

Another cause of the stability and permanence of an institution of 



learning will be found, in the selection of men of talent and eloquence 
to preside over the various de'partments of instruction and faithfully 
execute the work that is assigned them. Success is chiefly dependent 
on the ability of the officers of instruction ; and the board of trust 
have no more important and responsible duty than the selection of the 
men to whom they may commit the work of instruction. Knowledge 
is imparted when the impressions of one mind are conveyed to anoth- 
er. In the work of instruction, the Professor imparts the treasures of 
his own mind to those whom he instructs, and they receive an impress 
from the excellences or deformities by which his mind is characterized. 
The artist copies the best models and from ihem endeavors to form his 
own taste and perfect his own genius. The student copies his instruc- 
tor, and after his character, talent and attainment expects to improve 
and perfect his own accomplishments. It is manifest, then, thai the 
best specimens of mind and manner and attainment should be found 
in those who instruct in our seats of learning, and from whom the ed- 
ucated of the rising generation will take their impress. The learned 
nations of antiquity sought men the most distinguished for talent and 
attainment as the instructors of youth ; and when the most distinguish- 
ed philosophers gave their instructions, they were thronged by great 
numbers of admiring auditors. In the Colleges and Universities of 
Europe, it is the first principle to fill the chair of instruction with men 
of the most profound talent and learning ; and it is supposed that the 
celebrity and perpetuity of an institution will depend on a firm adher- 
ence to this principle. The same principle must be regarded and will 
have its influence in the institutions of this country. An institution 
may appear to flourish for a time, when its faculty are made up by 
taking the available candidate ; and partiality and party spirit may 
surround inferior abilities and attainments with a temporary populari- 
ty, and prevent the reputation of the establishment from sinking. But 
the institution that does not adopt and rigidly adhere to the principle of 
filling its professorships with the best men, will sooner or later find its 
limit and fail in the accomplishment of valuable results. 

Again, ample and valuable accommodations^ will have great influ- 
ence in giving stability and permanence to an institution of learning. 
Let our colleges and professional schools have good buildings, exten- 
sive and valuable libraries, choice cabinets, ample apparatus, and other 
preparations which illustrate science and render it attractive, and 



10 

these institutions will not only become more valuable, but more stable, 
and more worthy of the permanent regard of an intelligent people. 
Associated action always becomes more interesting, more vigorous and 
more abiding, when a large amount of common property is subject to 
control, and is to be used for the common benefit. A family without 
a home, without a house, without household comforts and conveniences, 
without a garden or a homestead, has no common attraction, leads a 
wandering life, and is despised, when the pressure of necessity, which 
kept them together in the years of childhood, has ceased to be felt. Not 
so with a family of a large inheritance. The family mansion with 
its appurtenances, is the centre of attraction, perhaps for many gene- 
rations, and the garden, the grove, the hill and the vale which have 
been the delights of childhood, are sought again and again, even mthe 
years of manhood and old age, with the fondest recollections of youth- 
ful enjoyment. The religious society associated for the purpose of 
sustaining the worship of God and advancing the christian cause, has 
prospect of stability and permanence when it has provided a rich and 
tasteful and commodious house of worship, and has made the needful 
provisions to render its services comely and attractive. The sanctu- 
ary becomes the home of the soul, and the parents and the children and 
the children's children seek it with delight. When the state provides 
itself with rich and appropriate halls of legislation and seats of justice, 
and adorns its capital with institutions for the public good, the subjects 
of the government become patriotic, and the state gains strength and 
stability. The college or the professional school, in these respects^ re- 
sembles the family, the parish, the state. And the young men who 
have enjoyed the benefits of an institution amply provided with ac- 
commodations and means of instruction, will remember it as their 
home, their sanctuary, as the state that ruled the waywardness of youth, 
and by a salutary discipline guided them to manliness and virtue. And 
along the progress of revolving years, the multitudes of those who 
have been sent out to discharge the duties and sustain the responsibili- 
ties of life, will return to tread again the halls of science, to greet an 
old instructor and companions in study, and enjoy again the familiar 
scenes of former years. It was not altogether the eloquence of Plato 
and Aristotle and their successors, that drew together the great multi- 
tudes who resorted to the Academy and the Lyceum through successive 
centuries. The beauties of architecture, of sculpture and painting, 



II 

(he cool and refreshing groves and fountains and rivulets, scenery so 
well adapted to literary companionship, had their influence. And 
the princely halls of the Museum, and the Alexandrian library, and 
other attractions of a city renowned as the royal residence, and the 
literary and commercial centre of the civilized world, had their influ- 
ence in perpetuating its fame as a place of resort for the learned, as 
well as the lectures of the learned men by whom instruction was im- 
parted. 

I am aware that the objection will arise, that the accommodations 
and conveniences of an institution of learning are expensive, and that, 
in a new country, there are not resources at control, to erect edifices, 
purchase libraries and provide apparatus, and that hence they must be 
dispensed with. It is just and right that the amount of resources 
should regulate expenditure, and that limited means should have a lim- 
ited application, providing first, those things that are indispensable, 
and making such arrangements that additions and improvements may 
be made as future resources shall justify. But it is possible, if not 
certain, that we have not yet reached the measure of our ability, and 
that we are using an economy that is short-sighted, and that will sac- 
rifice our best interests. It has been supposed that funds could be. in 
a great measure, dispensed with, and that institutions might become 
self-supporting. The worthy Dr. Nelson, founder of the Mission In- 
stitute at Quincy, Illinois, conceived the idea, that young men might 
be prepared for the ministry in the wilderness, — that they could cut 
down the trees with their own hands, build log cabins, as places of 
abode and study, and upon the cleared soil raise their own provisions, 
and, under his supervision and instruction, hear each other's recita- 
tions, and acquire a bodily and mental preparation for the ministry that 
could be secured in no other way. A little before his death, the wor- 
thy Doctor was enquired of in regard to the success of his enterprise. 
He found no fault with his system, but said he had made one mistake. 
And he had now made the discovery that, contrary to his former opin- 
ions, the pious young men of this country did not desire to preach the 
gospel, and this he assigned as the cause of his faikire. Perhaps he 
would claim that he was not the author of the system, and that he had 
examples of high authority. It is said that Elijah, and the prophets 
whom he taught, had their lodgment in the caves of Carmel, and that 
Elisha, who succeeded him as a teacher, had a school, in which he 



12 

taught young prophets to preach, in Gilgal. And the young nnen 
complained that their accommodations were not sufficiently ample, 
and obtained leave to go to the banks of Jordan and cut timber for 
their enlargement ; and the borrowed axe, that was lost and recover- 
ed by a miracle, was used by the manual-labor students of Elisha in 
preparing a place for their own residence. When the Son of Man 
taught his disciples, he had not where to lay his head ; and the school 
of John, the Baptist, was in the wilderness, and his meat was locusts 
and wild, honey. Such, however, were not wholly the customs of the 
age and country. The school of Gamaliel, in which Paul and Bar- 
nabas were educated, was located in the metropolis of Israel, and we 
may believe that this illustrious teacher, sprung from a distinguished 
family and for thirty years President of the Sanhedrim, had at his 
control the apartments of the temple, or other places of resort for the 
accommodation of the multitudes brought up at his feet. In some states 
of society, and in circumstances of deep poverty, it would be expedi- 
ent to provide for instruction alone, and to dispense with all accommo- 
dations, except such as are necessary to sustain and preserve life. But 
such is not our state of society ; such are not our circumstances. In 
some respects we are in a new country. In other respects we are in a 
country far advanced in wealth, and elevation, and refinement. We 
are upon a soil but recently occupied, and the foundations of our insti- 
tutions were bi^t recently laid. In other respects we are but the fur- 
ther development of a state of society that has been in rapid progress 
for more than two hundred years. Some of us were nurtured in the 
older states, and, with settled character and habits, have suffered a 
mere transfer to a different locality. Some of us were nurtured in 
families thqs transferred, and are the descendants of a worthy ances- 
try. And we wiU never admit that a mere transfer, though it be to a 
fairer cou^ry. a richer soil and milder skies, is to be the cause of de- 
generacy. Let us, then, have institutions adapted to the advanced stnte 
of society in which we are. We are able to provide for our own 
wants. We can have, in our colleges and seminaries, able and learn- 
ed professors. We can provide the necessary endowments. And when 
the case calls for it, in any of the departments of our institutions, we 
can erect neat and tasteful edifices, fitted to adorn our cities and vil' 
lages. We can provide ample libraries, and apparatus, and other 
means by which instruction is facilitated. And the day may not be 



13 

distant, when we can connect, with our seats of science, gardens, and 
groves, and walks, and fountains, and make them the places of happy 
resort to all lovers of learning, taste and refinement. 

I have only to add, that the attachment and irifluence of the gradu' 
ates Will give stability and permanence to an institution of learning. 
These are the products for which the institution was originated, and 
the evidence of its skillful workmanship ; and as they go out from 
year to year, with minds well formed and capabilities enhanced, they 
are letters of commendation in behalf of their alma mater, that may 
be known and read of all men. They were brought together at an 
early age, when impressions were deep and lasting. They were 
brought under common influences, designed to fit them for the impor- 
tant stations which they were to occupy in society. They have a 
common stock of knowledge, common sentiments and attachments, 
and their sympathies and fond remembrances all cluster around the 
institution to which they were indebted for much of their advance- 
ment in life. It is a matter of course that they should desire its per- 
manent welfare, and that they should avail themselves of the stations 
which they occupy, and the wealth which they are enabled to accu- 
mulate, to promote its advancement. The graduates of an institution 
constitute a sort of family or community, receiving annual accessions 
to the brotherhood, which is to be increased and perpetuated, notwith- 
standing the invasion of the'r ranks by death, through many genera- 
tions. And whatever other relations they may sustain in life, their 
relation to the institution where they have received their intellectual 
and moral culture, and their obligations to it, are cheerfully acknow- 
ledged. Thus some institutions in our country have already, in their 
graduates, hundreds and thousands of worthy sons, proud of their pa- 
rentage, ready to defend the fame, advance the usefulness and increase 
the patronage of their alma mater. 

I have now brought to view some of the principles on which the 
Western Reserve College was founded, and by which those 
who have the care of its interests expect to be guided. In laying its 
foundations, they have had, from the beginning, regard to stability and 
permanence. They have sought the accomplishment of a great and 
permanent object, the advancement of the higher departments of 
education, and thereby the best interests of their country, 
the church and the world j and they have never been diverted from 



14 

their object by local jealousy, sectarian feeling or party interest. Their 
standard of education has been avowedly high, from the belief that 
nothing short of giving advantages equal to what are found in the best 
institutions of the land, would sustain the reputation of the college, 
meet the public demand or accomplish the end at which they were 
aiming ; and in carrying out their object they have sought for profes- 
sors, men of talent and attainment, adequate to the work to which they 
were called. They have aimed to provide, with all possible dispatch, 
adequate buildings, libraries and apparatus, and they expect that the 
growing number of their graduates will rally around their standard, 
cheer them on in their work, and sustain their enterprise in the pro- 
gress of its future development» 

The charter of the Western Reserve College was granted the 8th 
of February, 1826. Of course the college has passed the nineteenth 
anniversary of its chartered existence. The charter provides that the 
college shall be erected on a plan sufficiently extensive to afford in* 
struction in the liberal arts and sciences, and ^hat the trustees may, as 
their ability shall increase, and the interests of the community shall 
require, erect additional departments for the study of any or all of the 
liberal professions. There was no other thought then, than [that one 
institution for collegiate and professional education, if there should be 
ability to erect it, would be adequate to the wants of the Western Re- 
serve. The kings of England, who sent their subjects to plant colo- 
nies and christianize the savages of North America, granted charters 
without any exact regard to boundary, and sometimes made repeated 
conveyance of the same territory. Now if the legislature of Ohio, 
in their wisdom and benevolence, have laid charter upon charter, and 
have made double or triple conveyance of the same privilege, still it 
must be remembered that the trustees of the Western Reserve College, 
have the prior grants, are still in the field, and in a state of occupancy. 
And it has always been their design, as well as their privilege, to es- 
tablish a college with professional departments. The Theological de- 
partment, is coeval with the college. In October, 1834, when a 
counter movement was about to be made, they resolved and published : 
" That it has been, and still is the intention of this board, when the in- 
terests of the community shall require it, to establish a Medical de* 
partment in connection with this college, and that correspondence be 
had on the subject with physicians on the Reserve," The result of this 



15 

correspondence, was a general expression of opinion in favor of the 
measure, though some physicians expressed doubt whether the time 
had then arrived for establishing the department. The trustees waited 
till they believed that the time had come, and that the interests of the 
community required its establishment. Its location in Cleveland was 
matter of convenience ; and as a department of the college they now 
contemplate it as having stability and permanence. They rejoice m 
having secured the services of able and experienced men in its profes- 
sorships. They contemplate with satisfaction the numerous attend- 
ance, we think unprecedented considering the age of the department, 
on the courses of instruction that have been delivered. They rejoice 
in the zeal and liberality of the citizens of Cleveland, in raising funds 
by which the department is to be acco nmodated with an ample and ap- 
propriate edifice, which may stand as an ornament to their city and a 
monument to their munificence. Let me say, my friends, we rejoice 
to find you co-operating with us in a great and good work. And when, 
in a few years, your city shall be accommodated, like some of the At- 
lantic cities, with communication to the interior by steam and railroad, 
Hudson and Cleveland will be brought in close proximity, and our in- 
stitution will be one, worthy of your co-operation, a stable, well en- 
dowed college, with professional departments, a university, though not 
ambitious of the n^ime, an institution adequate to the education of our 
sons in the higher departments of learning, an ornament to our state? 
and a worthy example of western improvement. 

Before closing, we wish to give our parting salutations to the gradu- 
ating class. Young Gentlemen : The board of trustees learn, with 
high satisfaction, the proficiency you have made in the studies of 
the honorable profession to which you have devoted your lives. We 
are happy to learn, that such has been your devotion to the science and 
knowledge of Medicine, under the direction of your private instruc- 
tors, and in connection with the lectures of the Medical Faculty, that 
you have passed an examination highly creditable to yourselves, and 
that you have manifested such attainments as render you worthy of 
the honors of this institution, and give high hopes of your becoming 
ornaments to your profession. We rejoice in the testimony that your 
instructors have been able to give us in favor of your moral character 
and correct deportment ; and in regard to your observance of their 
requirements, and your gentlemanly conduct while in attendance up- 



16 

on their lectures, and in your intercourse with the worthy and hospi* 
table people of- this city. It is with satisfaction that we register your 
names among the alumni of the Western Reserve College, and reckon 
you among the first fruits of its Medical department. We are confi- 
dent that, as you go out into the world and engage in the duties of your 
profession, you will cherish a grateful remembrance of the worthy 
men to whose instruction you have submitted yourselves, and will de- 
light in the success of the enterprise to which they have devoted their 
talents and attainments. You will rejoice with them in the more am- 
ple accommodations with which the department is to be provided, in 
the rising walls of the new edifice and the ample libraries and cabi- 
nets with which it is to be filled, and more than all in the thronging 
multitudes that will crowd its halls and become eager listeners to the 
lessons of wisdom which we trust they may be long spared to impart. 
But I must check these anticipations. 

Young gentlemen, the day of duty has come. Go to your respec- 
tive fields of labor. Go, carrying all the treasures of wisdom you 
have been enabled to gather, and sustain, with all the abilities God 
has given you, the arduous duties of your profession. Go as the mes- 
sengers of mercy to the scenes of sorrow and distress. Go to the bed- 
sides of the sick and the languishing, to arrest disease and restore 
health. If your services are needed, go to the humble abodes of pov- 
erty and want, and apply the needful remedies without price, and look 
to Him who will not sufl^er a cup of cold water, rightly presented, to 
go unrewarded. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 743 880 




Cleveland Medical College. 



